A Game Developer graphic with a photograph of İpek Yavuz

Photograph via TaleWorlds forums

İpek Yavuz, co-founder of TaleWorlds and studio head of the Mount & Blade series, has passed away at the age of 54.

TaleWorlds community manager Dejan announced the passing on Friday. "Today, we are deeply saddened to share the passing of our beloved co-founder, İpek Yavuz, whose passion, dedication, and vision have been at the heart of TaleWorlds since the very beginning," the statement reads.

"Together with her family and loved ones, we mourn her loss and remember her with love, respect, and gratitude."

As per Moby Games, Yavuz is credited as CG artist on the original Mount & Blade, as well as studio head of Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord. She co-founded the studio back in 2005 alongside her husband Armağan Yavuz.

Since its conception, TaleWorlds has focused entirely on the Mount & Blade series, releasing four mainline entries and a few DLCs over the years, the latter being Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord - War Sails in November of 2025.

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TaleWorlds is an Ankara-based studio. Via Türkiye Today, back in 2016, the developer became the first Türrkiye-based game company to exhibit at E3. The same year, a report by the Turkish Exporters Assembly recognized Mount & Blade as one of the country's standout, high-value export products. Approximately 96 percent of its roughly seven million sales at that point went to international markets across 212 countries.

"Found her work as a little web site offering a game demo which had you riding a horse round a tiny area, to get a taste of what they were working on," reads a comment from a Reddit user in the series' subreddit. "That was Mount & Blade. Thank you for two decades of fun. My brother and I thought we had found something special, and it in fact turned into this amazing game series which we spent countless hours in. We were very lucky to be part of it."

"This woman gave all of us the joy of Mount & Blade, the game that is a genre in itself, a game which nothing else has come close to replacing," reads another comment. "Thanks for everything. May you sit forever on the throne of Calradia."

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Diego Argüello

Contributing Editor, News, GameDeveloper.com

Diego Nicolás Argüello is a freelance journalist and critic from Argentina. Video games helped him to learn English, so now he covers them for places like The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and more. He also runs Into the Spine, a site dedicated to fostering and supporting new writers, and co-hosted Turnabout Breakdown, a podcast about the Ace Attorney series. He’s most likely playing a rhythm game as you read this.